Smart sprawl : an examination of successful conservation development ordinances and practices and recommendations for Central Texas

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Abstract

This report is not intended to argue how sprawl is to be stopped. Infill
development is too limited to support the growth cities are expecting, and with a market
of buyers who desire to live outside of the city and own a little piece of the country, can
there really be an end to sprawl? Rather, this report identifies a method of sprawling
smartly: conservation development. As an alternative to conventional subdivision,
conservation subdivision developments perpetually preserve a significant portion—
usually half—of the development site as open space. This report examines the
conservation subdivision ordinances that municipalities have adopted as an alternative or,
in some cases, to replace conventional subdivision regulations, and the strategies they
exercise that affect a change in the way we sprawl.